Overnight flight from Joburg bang on time, arrived 10 mins early at 4.50 am. Coach to Exeter not until 9.30. Hung about in Cafe Nero in terminal 2 until 9.00. Coach on time and arrived Exeter at 13.10. Nick waiting to pick us up and arrived home at 14.00.
THE END
(Until next time)
Left Exeter on the 9.10 National Express coach for Heathrow Airport and arrived at 1pm with five and a half hours to kill before our 18.30 flight to Joburg.
Flight left a little late. Seats 65 A & B on Airbus A380. Chicken breast and Chile red wine for dinner.
Bus on time to terminal 1/2 at Heathrow. Transferred to terminal 5 and then relaxed in the lounge for a couple of hours. Plane on time. No problems.
Satuday
Arrived Jo’burg a little ahead of schedule, Jeff and Cheryl picked us up and arrived at their house before lunch. Beautiful warm day. Had a little snooze in the afternoon. Out in the evening to a super Portuguese restaurant in Turffontein. King prawns and La Motte red.
Sunday
Borrowed Jeff’s car and went to Woolworths to do food shopping .
BBQ in the afternoon. Bruce Grubb and Denise came, an old Clearspan Structures colleague not seen we left SA in 1982. Great to catch up. Cheryl’s mum and son Gregg also cam with there two children Connor and Jarred. Ribs galore!! Hot day 34 dogs.
National express bus from Heathrow back to Devon arrived at 2.50 at Exeter bus station to be greeted by Slim with a placard welcoming the Buzz’s ( been away so long he says that he forgot how to spell our name)
That’s the conclusion of another spectacular trip that has once again flown bye and with the aid of this blog we will spend many moments recounting the wonderful time we had.
THE END. ( for now!)
Left for the long treck home at 8am local KL time from the Concorde Hotel. Plane a bit late leaving but with 3 hour stopover in Dubai this was not a problem. Arrived Dubai about an hour late but were soon aboard the next flight for the last leg to Heathrow. Arrived Heathrow at about 8.30 pm local and got to the hotel about 9.30. Relaxed with a glass of the red stuff and then off to bed to try and get some sleep although KL time it is 7am in the morning.
Easyjet will never be the same again!!
Left Exeter train station on the 07.50 (Golden Hind) to Paddington and then onwards to Heathrow on the Heathrow Express arriving at Terminal 3 at 11.00. Good flight to Dubai with Emirates, very comfy seats, food pretty good with real knives and forks.
Writing this at Dubai Airport ( 02.00 am local) waiting for our 03.00 am connection to Bangkok, so it’s the 9th already. More tomorrow after final arrival
The Itinerary has been posted for our trip
Blog will start soon
Packing will start soon
Will run out of money soon !!
The weather will be warmer soon
Checked out of hotel and drove to Richmond where we met Tom and Padouk. Walked along the river and went to Ham House. Had lunch in the cafe and had a stroll around the gardens.
Walked along the Grand Union Canal from the hotel and again caught train into London and met up with Tom in Sloane Square. Ambled along the Kings Road and went to the Satchi Gallery.
Brentford Lock
Ended up after a long walk at the South Bank and met up with Padouk again for a couple of beers before we headed off to our dinner venue, “The Garrison” pub in Bermondsey.
Trip up to London for a few days staying at the Holiday Inn at Brentford
Arrived early afternoon and checked in. Caught the overland train from Brentford station to Waterloo. Made way to Tate Britten to view the Lowry Exibition and onwards towards the House of Parliament, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square to meet up with Tom. Caught up with Padouk at Piccadilly Circus and dined at “Hawksmoor Steakhouse” off Regent street.
Day after Holly’s wedding and staying with C&N . Sunny but cool day and went to Hillier’s Gardens at Braishfield . All the rhododendrons and azaleas were in fill bloom and very beautiful. Lovely gardens to visit.
Bought a painting by Barry Fry
Tink and Den came for dinner in the evening
Art in the Park exhibition
Left Centre Parcs early morning to travel to Hampshire for Holly’s wedding. Arrived at Nige and Carly’s at about 10 am.
Quick turnaround and off to the 1.00pm wedding at Winchester’s St Cross church.
Lovely service but rubbish weather so no real photo opportunities outside the church.
Straight to the reception venue of the Clock Barn outside Winchester.
Great reception and taxied hope at 11pm.
Last day at Centre Parcs
Jamie and Steff went off site early for their horse riding adventure
Irene went to have her nails all tarted up for 2 hours in the morning.
Gym in the afternoon and another badminton session whilst all the ladies spent three hours in the Spa pampering themselves.
Ate out in the evening at the Indian restaurant. Nice meal.
This little chappie was munching away right outside our back door
Jamie had his Falcon adventure early morning where all the kids were allowed to handle some of the birds and instructed about the various types of birds of prey. Parents looked on and learnt something as well.
Canoeing in the afternoon then gym and the pool again
Spotted a beautiful red deer grazing in the wood at the rear of the lodge
Walks around the estate in the morning then more gym for Me and Er.
Josh and me braved the “Aerial Adventure” and the zip wire across the lake at the end.
Ice creams and coffee all round before more badminton and squash for Brad and Kelvin.
